Title: FractureAuthor: Megan MirandaPublisher: Walker Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Bloomsbury USAPublication Date: January 17, 2012Pages: 272Source: ARC from JillianFrom Walker Books for Young Readers:Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine – despite the scans that showed significant brain damage. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she’s far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can’t control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it?

Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who recently emerged from a coma with similar abilities. At first she’s reassured to find someone who understands the strangeness of her new existence, but Delaney soon discovers that Troy’s motives aren’t quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature – or something much more frightening?

***

Fracture is the perfect love child if The Body Finder and If I Stay hooked up on one magical night. It has the best elements of both books, plus its own twists and turns that make it a totally unique story.Jillian from Heise Reads & Recommends was a GEM and let me borrow her ARC of this book. The ARC had a plain blue cover, but when I saw the new cover you see above, I was in awe. It is completely gorgeous and I think it captures the essence of this book to a T. Can I also mention the fact that it’s a standalone?! It’s refreshing to read a story that can be so beautifully told in just one pretty little package of a book.As for the story – in one word, phenomenal. Megan Miranda has a true knack for toying with your heart. One minute it’s aching, the next it’s beating so fast you think you’re going to have a heart attack. And to think this is her DEBUT novel? Needless to say, I cannot wait for more of Megan’s work!